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BB King’s: A steal for West Palm

Music and night life fans rejoice: The BB King’s Restaurant & Blues Club in CityPlace is quite the coup for West Palm Beach.

Considering that there are only five of these restaurants in the country, with four of the locations in cities with larger metropolitan areas than West Palm (Memphis, Nashville, Las Vegas and Orlando), WPB scored big landing the nightclub in CityPlace. You’d expect to see one of these in Miami or Ft. Lauderdale, but West Palm Beach is continuing its quest to raise its profile on the national landscape.

I had a chance to visit for the first time on Saturday, enjoying my birthday with friends while jamming out to the B.B. King All-Star Band. I wasn’t sure what kind of crowd to expect, considering that the temperature was dropping into the 40s and South Floridians are known to stay at home rather than grab a jacket. But the place was booming, with a 1+ hour wait for a table.

It’ll be interesting to see whether these crowds will last, or if it’s just early curiosity. There was a $10 cover charge, and the club will probably want to reduce it to $5 once the early hoopla dies down.

The All-Star Band is fun, covering the blues, Motown and Michael Jackson, but the club will want to score national acts as well. Now that the Bamboo Room in Lake Worth and City Lights in Delray Beach have shut down, BB King’s is in prime position to serve as the county’s premier concert venue for shows catering to an intimate crowd of about 2-300.